Left with few options, G-23 leaders back Mallikarjun Kharge for Congress chief

Only less than two weeks ago, G-23 leaders had raised questions about the electoral rolls and transparency in the conduct of polls

Two days ago, on Wednesday, when Ashok Gehlot announced that he would not contest for the party president post, the mood in Congress was sombre — not because Gehlot was bowing out, but rebellion by his supporters had brought “damage”.

By Friday, it was different as Sonia Gandhi zeroed in on Mallikarjun Kharge to replace Gehlot with a galaxy of leaders supporting the choice — the icing on the cake was the support of G-23 or change-seekers, who drove to Congress headquarters to propose the senior leader’s nomination and be present while filing the papers.

Party managers believe “whatever damage the Gehlot episode brought in, it was offset by the damage control measures taken in the past two days. Whatever is happening is happening in a good way. The outcome is better than what is expected. We have recovered well and things are shaping better.”

Read | Kharge missed many buses but now may become Cong president

Only less than two weeks ago, G-23 leaders, including Manish Tewari, raised questions about the electoral rolls and transparency in the conduct of polls. In the Congress Working Committee meeting to decide on the schedule, senior leader Anand Sharma himself had raised queries on the veracity of electoral rolls.

Deft political management by close aides of Sonia appears to have saved the day for the party. The signals of a thaw were there but none appeared to have picked it – Sharma had reached out to Gehlot to find a way out after the Jaipur rebellion while Tewari had been unusually quiet on the organisational polls.

This was the group that demanded that there should be internal elections but Tewari had a different take on Friday morning – he tweeted that he favoured a consensus candidate for Congress president, “given the recent unfortunate events” and it was time to close ranks and strengthen Congress”.

Read | I am fighting for big change: Kharge

While ordinary workers and media remained intrigued by Tewari’s remarks, he and other G-23 leaders like Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan arrived at the Congress headquarters – they sat with Gehlot and other senior leaders, chatted like any other day and signed Kharge’s papers.

Sources said Sonia and Kharge among others had reached out to leaders and it had the desired impact. Suddenly, all appeared on the same page. Tewari had earlier counselled Shashi Tharoor to withdraw from the race a few days ago but the latter refused, they said.

For the G-23, sources said, the re-alignment with the mainstream leadership would not mean that they have given away their demand on election to the CWC. They had seriously thought of challenging the leadership but the latter’s decision to choose Gehlot and later Kharge left them with fewer options.